August 9, 2010

Dear Parent or Guardian,

The goal of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 is to ensure that all children in this country receive a quality education. Under NCLB, each state is required to assess all schools to determine if each school has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward meeting the academic testing standards and additional measures set by the state. AYP decisions are based on the results of state testing in communication arts and math and the school’s attendance rate or graduation rate. If the school has not made AYP for two consecutive years, it is considered “in need of improvement.”

Based on the results of the 2009-2010 academic testing in communication arts and math and the school’s attendance rate or graduation rate, your child’s school, Oak Ridge Intermediate, did not make adequate yearly progress for the following reasons:

1. No Child Left Behind evaluates students in subgroups or groups of students based on demographic characteristics such as race and socio-economic status. To be considered a subgroup, there must be at least 30 students in that particular group. In Oak Ridge Elementary, we have four sub-groups that are considered for making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), which is an achievement target set for students. In Communication Arts, one subgroup did not meet AYP. In Mathematics, all groups met AYP and Oak Ridge met the attendance target set forth by the State of Missouri.
2. Oak Ridge Intermediate is the only 5^th and 6^th grade attendance center in the school district, therefore no comparison between district schools exist; however, Oak Ridge did demonstrate growth toward meeting AYP in numerous areas. The state achievement target for Communication Arts was 67.4 and in the “all students” subgroup, Oak Ridge Intermediate had 51.4% of their students score proficient or advanced, which is an increase from 47.7 in the 2008-2009 school year. In Mathematics, the state target was 63.3% and Oak Ridge Intermediate had 54.1% in the “all students” subgroup scoring proficient or advanced, which was an increase over the 2008-2009 score of 51.6%.

Because this is the fourth year of this designation, the school is considered to be in Level 4, Restructuring, Planning of School Improvement. The district must develop a plan for restructuring the school. One important component of this plan will be parent involvement in both the development and implementation of the plan.

As mentioned in a previous correspondence Oak Ridge Intermediate is eligible for Public School Choice; however, there is no other school in our district that serves 5^th and 6^th grade students; therefore, in the next few weeks, parents of eligible students will receive information regarding Supplemental Educational Services to be offered at Oak Ridge. All students from low-income families, those that qualify for free or reduced school lunch, who attend a Title I school in its second year or above of school improvement are eligible for SES. Information about public school choice and Supplemental Educational Services (SES) will also be available on the district’s website at www.camdentonschools.org, click on the NCLB notation at the

bottom of the district’s main page, and then select the SES Graph link listed on the left side of the page. This information will be updated periodically and toward the end of the school year.

We encourage you to become involved with your child’s school to support school improvement by encouraging activities such as reading in the home and practicing mathematical strategies on a regular basis. Thank you for your time and we look forward to addressing the challenges of NCLB with our parents through a strong partnership focused on the learning needs of all of our students.

Sincerely,

Brian L. Henry, Ed. D.

Deputy Superintendent for Academic Services